Malta is having the EU Presidency, and just now all the small country is doing its best hosting a series of events. Sometimes it paralyzes other parts of public life quite a bit. The EU Presidency has become one of the "P-Words". But that's how it goes, when you want to be a good host and honor your guests. I will get involved in a session on Foreign Direct Investment in the EU on Friday, and spent some time preparing for my speech on Chinese ODI (Outbound Direct Investment) with focus on the EU.

After having done further research, the best way to think through the event, is to go for a stroll through my secret gardens in Is-Sabbara. It makes me forget the buzz on the island.

Gate to fields behind between Kalkara and Zabbar, with view on Valletta in the background.

Dead Leopard snake (Maltese lifgħa), probably run over by a vehicle. No snake is venomous here. Shotgun shells you find everywhere in rural Malta. Shooting birds is something like a National sports. Don't know what kind of "hunting" this is, but I would not be surprised to see somebody standing in a field shooting grasshoppers.